For many years, Lilly Library served as the heart of East Campus and our student assistants have been an essential element in maintaining a high level of service and engagement with our community. When Lilly closed in May 2024 for a major renovation and expansion, staff and services relocated to Bishop’s House for the duration of the project. Closing for the renovation deeply involved our student workers as books had to be inventoried, circulating books required constant re-shelving, all while maintaining normal operations. A new schedule and range of services in Bishop’s House may require fewer student assistants, but we are fortunate that one “Lilly veteran” Yaa decided to join us back on East Campus. Yaa began working with us during her first year and has the distinction of working in the “old” Lilly as well as in Bishop’s House! Her support of Duke Libraries includes serving on student advisory boards since she arrived on campus.
Getting to Know Yaa
In her favorite spot in Lilly – by the window on the third level stacks
Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida
Family/siblings/pets: Mom, Dad, an older brother and a younger brother
Academic major: Spanish with a Journalism minor
Favorite on-campus activity (besides working in the library 😉): Walking through Duke Gardens
Favorite off-campus activity: Trying out restaurants with friends!
Favorite campus eatery: Ginger + Soy
Favorite off-campus eatery: Naan Stop
Remembering your Lilly experience:
Q: What was your favorite place in Lilly Library – and why? A: The third-floor window because the sunset was always a beautiful sight. The photo shows me there, looking into the afternoon sun. Note: this was also our senior Karen‘s favorite spot.
Yaa’s most interesting find in Lilly
Q: What’s the strangest/most interesting book or movie or music you’ve come across in the library? A: I found this sci-fi graphic novel that was about a Messiah. It was basically a Jesus story but without the religion. It was veryyy interesting, so I took a photo.
Q: What is one memory from your time in the library that you will never forget? A: How fun it always was to deliver books to faculty offices all over East Campus.
Q: What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done in the library? A: Maybe seeing if I could fit in the dumbwaiter or running from the 4th floor down to the 1st.
Q: What is your favorite part about working at the library? Least favorite? A: My favorite part would be all of the enriching and fun conversations I’ve had over the years with the librarians and staff. My least favorite thing would be the creepy pipe noises in Bishop’s House.
Q: How will your time working in the library help you in your future pursuits? A: My time at the library helped me with organizational skills and people skills and these are two things that transfer over to any aspect of life.
Celebrating at the Lilly Renovation Kickoff
The end of classes in May means all of us at Lilly Library say “cuídate mucho, hasta luego” to Yaa, who will be studying in South America in the fall semester. However, she promises to return in the spring of 2026 as a treasured member of our East Campus Libraries “family”.
What is a Vital Lilly Library Resource?
Our Student Assistants!
Away from Lilly Library – Chronicle News Photo Editor Karen on Chapel Drive
Lilly Class of 2025
For many years, Lilly Library served as the heart of East Campus and our student assistants have been an essential element in maintaining a high level of service and engagement with our community. When Lilly closed in May 2024 for a major renovation and expansion, staff and services relocated to Bishop’s House for the duration of the project. Closing for the renovation deeply involved our student workers as books had to be inventoried, circulating books required constant reshelving, all while maintaining normal operations. A new schedule and range of services in Bishop’s House may require fewer student assistants, but we are fortunate that our “Lilly veteran” Karen decided to return (sometimes on her trademark pink scooter!) and work with us on East Campus. Karen began working with us during her first year and we celebrate her now as our own Lilly Class of 2025, our “honors graduate”!
Meet Duke – and Lilly! – Senior Karen
Getting ready for renovation – Karen says bye to the Ben Duke bust [Instagram LillyLibDuke]
Hometown: Chantilly, VA
Family/siblings/pets: A younger brother named Jason.
Academic major: Public Policy
Activities on campus: Favorite on-campus activity (besides working in the library 😉)
Duke Marching and Pep Band, The Chronicle
Favorite off-campus activity: Trying new restaurants or hiking.
Favorite campus eatery: Marketplace
Favorite off-campus eatery: M Sushi
From Lilly Library to Bishop’s House –
what a long, strange road it’s been!
Q: What was your favorite place in Lilly Library – and why? A: Third floor stacks, by the big window overlooking the tennis courts because it was peaceful, and I love sitting in the sun.
Q: What’s the strangest/most interesting book or movie or music you’ve come across in the library? A:N7359.M67 A4 2003
And, yes, we had to look this up – it is a book with the title Wave UFO, featuring the art of Mariko Mori.
Q: What is one memory from your time in the library that you will never forget? A: When my coworker Katherine and I got hungry during one of our closing shifts together, so we ordered GoBringIt to the library!
Q: What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done in the library? A: Cried Oh no, this makes us sad!
Q: What is your favorite part about working at the library? Least favorite? A: Walking around East Campus on a beautiful day doing faculty deliveries; running to catch the last C1 during closing shifts
Q: How will your time working in the library help you in your future pursuits? A: Working at a library sharpens your people skills and makes you more detail-oriented
Karen bringing the “pep” in the Pep Band
Finally… Q: What will you miss most about the library when you graduate? A: All the full-time staff who have become like a family to me. Shout out to Nate, Kelley, Danette, Lee, Carson, David, Lauren, Carol, Greta and Ira ☹ Thank you and we will miss Karen, too! We look forward to her visiting the renovated Lilly Library at her class reunion!
Q: What are your plans for after graduation? A: Still figuring it out
Graduation in May means Lilly Library will say farewell to Karen, a treasured member of our East Campus Libraries “family”. We appreciate Karen’s stellar work and dedication to Lilly and wish her all the best!
What is a Vital Lilly Library Resource?
Meet Our Class of 2023
Meet “Lilly'” Class of 2023 – Emma
The Lilly and Music Libraries are at the heart of East Campus, the First-Year Campus for Duke Undergraduates. To serve our community, during the semester, the East Campus Libraries remain open for 175 hours each week! Our student assistants are an essential element in maintaining a high level of service, and we want to introduce you to one of our “Class of 2023”. Get to know Emma L., one of our graduating student assistants in this profile, and you’ll appreciate her as much we do.
Duke – and Lilly! – Senior Emma
A Lilly selfie with Emma
Hometown: Oak Park, IL
Family/siblings/pets: One younger sister. The closest thing I have to a pet is a lot of houseplants.
Academic major: Biology and Chemistry
Activities on campus: Research, Duke Symphony Orchestra, avid Cameron Crazie
Favorite on-campus activity (besides working in the library 😉 ): Duke Symphony Orchestra!
Favorite off-campus activity: Walks at Eno
Favorite campus eatery: Late-night Pitchforks
Favorite off-campus eatery: The Parlour
Behind the Curtain at Lilly
Q: If you could have a sleepover anywhere in the libraries, where would you choose, and why? A: The bottom floor of the Biddle library, it’s so calm and quiet.
Q: What’s the strangest/most interesting book or movie or music you’ve come across in the library? A: The locked stacks at Lilly have some really cool, really old books! No one book in particular stands out to me, but I love working in that room and seeing all the titles and publication years in there.
Q: What is your favorite part about working at library? Least favorite? A: The people are my favorite thing by far! I’ve met so many wonderful people at Lilly, from the librarians to the other student workers to the people who come up to the front desk. My least favorite part is when I just barely miss the bus after my shift, which isn’t even to do with Lilly.
Q: What is one memory from your time in the library that you will never forget? A: There was a tornado warning during one of my shifts this year, so we had to gather everyone up and go down to the basement. It only lasted 15-ish minutes, but it was interesting while it lasted.
Q: What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done in the library? A: I’ve done several shifts without shoes on because it was raining so hard that they were too wet to wear by the time I got to work.
Q: How will your time working in the library help you in your future pursuits? A: I’ve learned how to make searches specific enough to find what I’m looking for when finding sources for research. It’s also really helped me learn how to troubleshoot a printer (always a good skill to have).
Q: What will you miss most about the library when you graduate? A: How friendly everyone who works there is! Especially having worked at Lilly for four years, I’ll miss all the people (especially the librarians) who I met as a freshman. My favorite part of working an early shift this year is that I get to chat with everyone as they come in, and I’m sad I won’t get to do that anymore.
Q: What are your plans for after graduation? A: I’ll be pursuing a PhD in molecular microbiology at Tufts in Boston!
Q: What is your spirit animal? … well, you don’t expect all the questions to be about working in the library, do you? A: A cat, purely because of how much they love napping in the sun
Graduation in May means Lilly Library will say farewell to Emma and our other graduates, treasured members of our East Campus Libraries “family”. We appreciate Emma’s stellar work and dedication to Lilly and wish her all the best!
The Lilly and Music Libraries are at the heart of East Campus, the First-Year Campus for Duke Undergraduates. To serve our community, during the semester, the East Campus Libraries remain open for 175 hours each week! Our student assistants are an essential element in maintaining a high level of service, and we want to introduce you to one of our “Class of 2023”. Get to know Brandon L., one of our graduating student assistants in this profile, and you’ll appreciate the importance of our student staff as much we do.
Graduate Student Brandon
Graduate Student assistant – Brandon
Hometown: Allentown
Family/siblings/pets: 1 younger sister, no pets 🙁
Academic major: Masters of Public Policy
Activities on campus:
President of the Sanford Energy and Environment Club; Chair of the Partnerships Team of Oceans @ Duke; Tutor for economics and statistics; Mentor in Duke F1RSTS; and Member of the Energy Week Leadership Committee.
Favorite on-campus activity (besides working in the library): Duke basketball
Favorite off-campus activity: Biking or hiking
Favorite campus eatery: Tandoor
Favorite off-campus eatery: East Cut
Behind the Curtain: Lilly Library
Q: If you could have a sleepover anywhere in the libraries, where would you choose, and why? A: Thomas Reading Room in Lilly because it’s spacious and comfortable.
Q: What’s the strangest/most interesting book or movie or music you’ve come across in the library? A: Feline Philosophy, a book about cats.
Q: What is your favorite part about working at library? Least favorite? A: Faculty delivery when it’s sunny. Least favorite has to be shelf reading.
Q: What is one memory from your time in the library that you will never forget? A: A student accidentally printed out 100 color copies of Caleb Love (a UNC basketball player). She meant to print 10 for her friends to hold up at the UNC game.
Q: What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done in the library? A: Worked two 6-hour shifts on back-to-back days. Note: We agree – that was crazy!
Q: How will your time working in the library help you in your future pursuits? A: Knowing all the resources and benefits that come with being a member of a library will be very helpful. There is so much people don’t know libraries offer.
Q: What will you miss most about the library when you graduate? A: All the little treats we got during holidays or the reading period.
Q: What are your plans for after graduation? A: Moving to Chicago for a job at the Federal Reserve.
Q: What is your spirit animal? … well, you don’t expect all the questions to be about working in the library, do you? A: An owl because that was my undergrad’s mascot and I love staying up late.
Graduation in May means Lilly Library will say farewell to Brandon and our other graduates, treasured members of our East Campus Libraries’ “family”. We appreciate Brandon’s stellar work and dedication to Lilly and wish him all the best!
Lilly is at the heart of East Campus, the First-Year Campus for Duke Undergraduates. To serve our community, during what used to be a normal semester, Lilly Library remains open for 129 hours each week! Our student assistants are an essential element in maintaining a high level of service, and we want to introduce you to one of our “Class of 2020” – seniors who have worked in Lilly Library throughout their Duke careers. Get to know our seniors in these profiles, and you’ll appreciate them as much we do.
If you’ve been in Lilly Library over the past four years, chances are you’ve seen our seniors: Jess, Sarah, Esha, Toni, and Noelle. Jessica is one of our seniors who worked at Lilly Library since she arrived as wide-eyed First-Year student on East Campus way back in August of 2016.
Commencement 2020 may be virtual, but our regard for our student assistants is very real and enduring.
Take this opportunity to acquaint yourselves with Jessica, one of our treasured Lilly Library Class of 2020.
Senior Jessica
A model student: Jessica demos a 3D Scanner for a Lilly Library Facebook post
Hometown: Glen Rock, NJ
Family/siblings/pets: I have one younger brother
Academic major: Statistics and Computer Science
Activities on campus: Marching & Pep Band
Favorite on-campus activity, besides working at Lilly: Playing with the band at basketball games
Favorite off-campus activity: Used to be going for cheese and chocolate fondue at the Little Dipper on Ladies’ Night (it’s now closed though)
Favorite campus eatery: Div Cafe
Favorite off-campus eatery: Sushi Love
Q: If you could have a sleepover anywhere in the libraries, where would you choose, and why? A: I would say the armchairs in the Thomas Reading Room. It has a very pleasant, relaxing atmosphere, and I’m pretty sure I’ve already taken accidental naps there while doing homework.
Q: What’s the most interesting book you’ve come across in Lilly? A: The most interesting book I came across at Lilly was a photography book about Jim Marshall. Someone had just returned it and I flipped through all the photos before putting it in the bin of Perkins books.
Q: What is your favorite part about working at Lilly? Least favorite? A: I loved having time to put down the rest of my schoolwork and thinking about something else for at least a short while. I always found the tasks at Lilly like shelving books and processing holds to be quite satisfying. I don’t think I had a least favorite part!
Q: Why have you worked at Lilly Library ever since your first year? A: I thought about switching to Perkins after freshman year, but then I wouldn’t get to see Yunyi every week!
Q: What is one memory from Lilly that you will never forget? A: It’s not one specific memory, but because I’m in the band, a lot of the staff would chat with me about Duke football and basketball with me, especially Yunyi. I always knew that if the basketball team lost, I would get a chance to vent and complain about the team at my next shift. I will never forget how excited the staff always was for me when I got to travel with the teams for tournament games.
Q: What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done in Lilly? A: It’s not super crazy, but the few times I had to shelve books or straighten the stacks on the 4th level and no one was around, I would listen to music and dance to myself as I worked.
Q: How will your time at Lilly help you in your future pursuits? A: Lilly provided the first customer service-related job I’ve ever had, and my time at Lilly certainly helped me develop skills in that area, especially with continuing to be polite even when patrons were not (although that was quite rare to encounter). It also helped me with organization, multitasking, and adaptability, skills translatable into all kinds of fields.
Q: What will you miss most about Lilly when you graduate? A: I will definitely miss Yunyi and the other librarians/staff members the most.
Q: What are your plans for after graduation? A: I will be working as a Data Scientist for a start-up in New York City.
Q: What is your spirit animal? … well, you don’t expect all the questions to be about Lilly, did you? A: Always a tough question, but I guess a cat?
Lilly Senior Jessica
Graduation in May means Lilly Library will say farewell to Jessica and our other seniors, treasured members of our Lilly “family”. We appreciate her stellar work and dedication to Lilly and wish her all the best!
Many “happy” book returns greet Lilly Senior Sarah
Lilly is at the heart of East Campus, the First-Year Campus for Duke Undergraduates. To serve our community, during what used to be a “normal” semester, Lilly Library remains open for 129 hours each week! Our student assistants are an essential element in maintaining a high level of service, and we want to introduce you to one of our “Class of 2020” – seniors who have worked in Lilly Library throughout their Duke careers. Get to know our seniors in these profiles, and you’ll appreciate them as much we do.
If you’ve been in Lilly Library over the past four years, chances are you’ve seen our seniors: Jessica, Sarah, Esha, Toni, and Noelle. Sarah is one of our seniors who worked at Lilly Library since she arrived as wide-eyed First-Year student on East Campus way back in August of 2016.
Commencement 2020 may be virtual, but our regard for our student assistants is very real and enduring. Take this opportunity to acquaint yourselves with Sarah, one of our treasured Lilly Library Class of 2020.
Senior Sarah
Sarah at the North Carolina State Fair
Hometown: Flower Mound, Texas (north of Dallas)
Family/siblings/pets: Mom, Dad, younger sister (in her first year of college)
Academic major: Biomedical Engineering
Activities on campus: Club Swimming, Sport Clubs Executive Board, RA (in Neighborhood 1 on East, then in Crowell/Wannamaker), former FYLAB / UAB member
Favorite on-campus activity(besides working at Lilly): Swimming with Club Swim!
Favorite off-campus activity: I love going to sporting events, and my favorite annual event to attend since I have moved here for college is the North Carolina State Fair.
Q: If you could have a sleepover anywhere in the libraries, where would you choose, and why? A: Probably the Thomas Room, because it has really comfy chairs and the doors on both ends lock so I would feel safer…
Q: What’s the strangest/most interesting book or movie you’ve come across in Lilly? A: I can’t think of a specific strange example right now, but a special DVD to me is DVD 30,000 (The Princess Bride) which the class of 2020 got to pick!
Q: What is your favorite part about working at Lilly? Least favorite? A: My favorite part is all the librarians that have been so kind and supportive to me during my time working at Lilly. I always feel so welcome in the library and it became a sort of safe haven for me during my time at Duke. My least favorite part is walking through the library at closing time, because it’s dark and I keep thinking someone will jump out at me and scare me. Also, having to drive back to west campus at 4am.
Q: Why have you worked at Lilly Library ever since your first year? A: Because of the librarians! I started working at Lilly my first year because I really loved libraries and reading throughout my childhood and had volunteered at my public library in high school. I chose to stay throughout the years (even during the time I spent living on West Campus) because of the friendships I made with the people I worked with and because of the increased trust that everyone placed in me.
Q: What is one memory from Lilly that you will never forget? A: The little things the staff did for the student workers to make us feel appreciated – candy for every Halloween and Valentine’s Day, and student worker lunches at the end of every semester during Finals week. Even though after my first year I knew these things were coming, they were still always a nice surprise.
Q: What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done in Lilly? A: I don’t know how crazy this is, but I’ve definitely fallen asleep at the desk while working the late night shift a few times more than I’d like to admit…
Q: What was closing, or opening an empty (or at least, it was supposed to be empty) Lilly like? Eerily empty, people reluctant to leave, unexpected people? A: I worked a closing shift every week for the last three years I worked at Lilly, and most of the time people filtered out on their own within five minutes of closing time (even if they didn’t want to). I did sometimes get some interesting people that would filter through the building or have strange requests of me (for example, one time I got a call from a father who wanted me to find his daughter in the building and give her a message – but didn’t even know if she was actually at Lilly). Most of the time, though, the only spooky part was walking through the library alone and hoping no one was staking out to scare me. I only worked opening shifts at Lilly every once in a while, but it was always nice to come into an empty, quiet building and get to watch the early risers trickle in!
Q: How will your time at Lilly help you in your future pursuits? A: Lilly has taught me a lot of lessons about how to serve others and how to be a go-getter. Working behind the desk in particular has built a lot of confidence for me in talking to people I don’t know and helping to serve them. As an engineer, I might not always be in a customer-facing position, but having that experience will certainly give me a boost over those who are not as comfortable working in service roles.
Q: What will you miss most about Lilly when you graduate? A: Both the librarians, who have always been so nice to me, and the space as I remember it in my head. I know with renovations coming to Lilly in the future that when I come to visit as an alum, I might no longer be able to walk around the space knowing exactly where everything is. I will miss that feeling of knowing a place so well.
Q: What are your plans for after graduation? A: This summer I will be interning at Garmin International in Cary, NC to complete my internship requirement for the Master of Engineering program at Duke, and then I will graduate from Duke again in May of 2021!
Q: What is your spirit animal? … well, you don’t expect all the questions to be about Lilly, did you? A: My favorite animal is a monkey so I will go with that!
Sarah and her Club Swim teammates
Graduation in May means Lilly Library will say farewell to Sarah and our other seniors, treasured members of our Lilly “family”. We hope to see Sarah while she continues her graduate studies at Duke next year, even if she no longer works with us. We appreciate her stellar work and dedication to Lilly and wish her all the best!
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